Fiscal Grinch: Can it stop Christmas from coming?

It’s become somewhat of a Grinchy holiday tradition in Washington: Make sure the flights are refundable, get the shopping done early and be ready to stay in town until something, hopefully, maybe, happens.

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Fiscal cliff: A primer

This year is no different. With the fiscal cliff deadline looming and party leaders seemingly miles away from a deal, members of Congress are rearranging their travel schedules and crossing their fingers they’ll be able to make it home for at least a part of the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

It’s not looking good: The politics of making a deal are putting a damper on holiday cheer more than unwelcome relatives. Majority Leader Eric Cantor told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday to expect to stay in town through Christmas Eve and be ready to return immediately after Christmas Day. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) similarly signaled little progress had been made on a deal.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) joked that he may end up having Christmas dinner with a reporter in Washington if they couldn’t get out on time.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m telling you, my family wanted to do something this year around the holidays, and we just kind of said no,” Thune said of his travel plans, noting arrangements couldn’t be made far enough in advance.

“So day to day, just like you,” he said.

Throughout the halls of the Capitol on Wednesday there were dismayed faces of staffers and heavy sighs from reporters who couldn’t quite remember the last time holiday plans were secure. The last time there was a Christmas Eve vote was just in 2009, when the Senate convened at 7 a.m. to pass its version of Obamacare.

Still, sticking around is part of the job.

GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions said he planned to be home in Alabama with his children and grandchildren but that he understood he may have to quickly return. And for Sessions, staying in town on Christmas Eve is a “double whammy” because it’s also his birthday.

“Guys in Iraq and Afghanistan don’t get to go home, and we asked for this job. So if it’s necessary we’ll have to stay here,” he said.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) already was planning to spend Christmas in Washington with a family that lives in the area, so he has no problem with working through the holiday.

“That’s why we get the big bucks,” Huelskamp said. “Let’s do our job. I’m fine if that’s what it takes to save our nation, that is not a problem.”

On Wednesday night's Charlie Rose program, the eminently rational Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute defined the current Republican Party--from the poisonous tribalism that Newt Gingrich introduced to Grover Norquist's toxic position on taxes to the Haley Barbour / Jeb Bush (apparently ineffectual) pragmatists. While he also tipped his hat to the fine line Marco Rubio is trying to walk on immigration, Ornstein did not mention the take-no-prisoners Jim DeMint tea-partiers, the zealously dogmatic Dick Cheney / Charles Krauthammer Neocons, or Ron and Rand Paul's holier-than-thou Libertarianism.

Even with the recent success of ALEC- and Koch Brothers-inspired state-by-state assaults on democratic values, this makes the Democratic Party look very appealing and clean as a whistle.

We're supposed to feel for the overpaid, over-vacationing ("recessing"), do-nothing members of Congress that concocted the very mess they are now in? That's pretty funny, isn't it? Everyone in the know knows this problem could be solved a variety of ways and quickly, but politicians want to seem heroic because they are willing to stay and sacrifice holiday travel plans. These guys are the only reason they will staying in town. Republicans have taken the pose of their new party mascot -- the ostrich with it's head buried in the sand.

These bums haven't done anything since they returned for the lame-duck sessions but preen before cameras and indulge in political theatrics. What have they done legislatively? Nada. Zilch. Zero. Have they passed the updated Violence Against Women Act? No. Have they passed the updated farm bill? No. Did the Senate pass the United Nations treaty to ban discrimination against people with disabilities? No, they couldn't even do that, thanks to Republicans. Republicans couldn't even pass a treaty that advances American values worldwide -- specifically, the values embodied in the admirable Americans With Disabilities Act that is the law of our land. No, there's no reason to feel sympathy for these politicians unless we deem them to be insane; then I guess symapathy and compassion are in order.

There are numerous middle class Americans who are working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. No tears here, especially considering if these politicians would do there job, they wouldn't be in this situation. So why did it take 18 months again?

I just finished reading an article on Yahoo Business discussing how going over the fiscal cliff for a few weeks won't make a big difference. From my perspective, I could give a rip if we go over the damn cliff; it's about the only way we can get spending under control. I've planned well ahead in many ways for this eventuality, so let's go. The problem we as Americans face is a Congress that is so dysfunctional that our demise as leader of the free world is inevitable, and this will lead to chaos. Until Congress is replaced with citizen servants who care about the nation, we are doomed. And that will never happen.